"The similarities are there from college," Lyons told the New York Post on Wednesday. "I'm not saying Greg could get to that level, I'm saying there are similarities in college and what they accomplished in college -- there are a lot of crossovers."

The college parallel works. McElroy finished his career at Alabama with a 24-3 record before falling to the Jets in the seventh round of the 2011 NFL Draft. Brady was 20-5 at Michigan and famously was passed over until the sixth round of the 2000 draft.

Lyons is talking about potential. McElroy sparked the Jets in Sunday's (enthralling) 7-6 win over the Arizona Cardinals. He does give the Jets something different at quarterback because of his mobility and talent as a roll-out passer, but we're talking about a guy who popped onto the field for a little relief duty on a flailing offense.